


Spartan Study

by mehs



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 15:15:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19275919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mehs/pseuds/mehs
Summary: In order to write the Spartan Handbook, you need to observe the Spartans.





	Spartan Study

**Stardate: March 04, 2558**

 

Today marks the day that I have been deployed to the UNSC Infinity in hopes of gathering as much information as I possibly can to create the Spartan Field Manual. Commander Sully has assured me that I am to have full access to  **all** Spartan decks, including S-Deck and that rumor has it that there will be some Spartan IIs stationed on the ship for roughly three months. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity, but I am unsure whether or not it will be enough time.  On a previous deployment, they remained confined to their spaces and it was frowned upon to engage with them. Of course, this was before the Master Chief saved the entire galaxy, but it strikes me as almost sad that it took that level of achievement for a group of soldiers to be accepted into the military that they serve. 

Nonetheless, this journal will serve as my findings and chronicle my experience on Infinity.

**March 05, 2558**

**0900 Hours**

Commander Palmer is a striking woman. I hate that this is the first thing that I think of when I see her, but it’s true.  A Spartan-IV, but all of those biological enhancements cannot take the ODST out of her. I use the word striking not to describe her physical attractiveness, but the presence that she has in a room.   She stands straighter than her Marine counterparts, broader shoulders, bulky armor claiming its space. 

She is fiercely protective of her Spartans. My venture to S-Deck was greeted with some resistance on her part, stating “we don’t want to waste their time with egghead nonsense”, but thankfully ONI is above her wishes.  For a moment, there was some disruption, but these soldiers are used to it. 

For the most part, they have not changed much. Some of them have been chosen due to their accolades (see reference file: Gabriel Thorne) and some due to the people they know (I’ve had the pleasure of serving under General Madsen during the Campaign of Octavius IV).   There is little uniformity, I assume due to the broad backgrounds that each of these soldiers have. In conversations with Lieutenant Commander Musa, he states that this is to give the Spartan-IVs diversity in experiences, and creating an exemplary team with people from all over the UNSC. In most regards, this is true. These are some of the best in their field, with commendations attached to the majority of their files - it would be incorrect of me to assume all, given that like all things, Spartans are no exception to nepotism. 

It is odd that I have not seen a single Spartan II.  I had inquired about it to Spartan Miller, wondering why the Spartan IIs aren’t intermingled with the rest of them.  I don’t know why his answer surprised me, given how simple it was: 

_ “How can you tell which Spartan is a Spartan IV or a Spartan II?”  _

It seems that I am not immune to the fine work of my colleagues. For some odd reason, I would think that they would look different than the others.  I do not know what I would expect? More battle hardened? Some of these Spartans were once ODSTs, and that is a huge feat given their life expectancy during the war.  Did I expect them to declare themselves, like legendary warriors claiming their space? 

**March 06, 2558**

**1800 hours**

My observations for the first day are very interesting.  Captain Lasky’s bridge is an open space for Commander Palmer. I caught her coming to complain about my presence to him, while I was standing there. Again. Striking. The other Spartan IVs continue to have duties on the ship, and contribute to to its upkeep.  There is something about a giant in Engineering that could break my spine in half if they wanted to and checking on the status of the FTE engines that seems out of place. 

For the most part, Infinity has a very unique ecosystem of crew, military personnel and scientists. Dr. Glassman has been very enthusiastically telling me about the  **[SECTION REDACTED]**  - it’s quite reminiscent of when we were in the doctoral program. 

I have been informed that Spartan Blue Team can be found using S-Deck at roughly 2000 to 0500 hours. I don’t find it all surprising given their history within the Spartan II program. Subjects that have been together **[REDACTED]** years share a familiar bond. 

Command had an odd response when I asked to have more access to their files. They seem … incomplete. However, I know better than to question ONI when they say “Glassed planets have bad records”.  It’s where they do their finest work. 

For my sake, I must write my true feelings on meeting these legends now, as to not further cloud of my investigations. The thought of meeting the fireteam with the most successful campaigns in the history of the UNSC has me very excited.

 

It makes me wish I brought my hard drive with **_Spartan Nights_** with me. I want to compare how they portray the Master Chief versus his actual face.  Can Spartans really throw a Scorpion Tank if they’re angry enough? Did Kelly-087 really drop behind enemy lines and kick an Elite so hard that he landed face first in ODST lines? Can Linda-058 really hang upside down from a tree and still hit a Banshee pilot? I want to hear about the time that Fred-104 basically jockeyed a Brute using two knives in its neck.

I thought that I was above such immature questions, but it seems not.  I must also remember to use Covenant names rather than their assumed names.  It won’t happen again.   
  


**March 07, 2558**

**1030 Hours**

Spartan Blue Team have a reputation about them, it seems. I would not expect so many off-duty Spartans to wait for a team to come and use S-Deck’s facilities. At approximately 1830 hours, Fredric-104, Kelly-087 and Linda-058 came to use S-Deck.  The first thing I was told by Spartan Hoya was to never, ever, (his exact words) challenge Kelly-087 to a race. 

“Your pride will hurt more than than visit to the med-bay.” 

She is incredibly protective of her two team members, yet at the same time, a typical younger sibling. From what I was allowed to observe, they speak nonverbally with each other - for the most part. Unfortunately for me, this is not new information, given all the accounts of the many service people that I interviewed before my post here.  There were, however, glimmers of new information: they are highly knowledgeable about many, many things. The conversation came up when they were eating. Fred-104 asked about a mission recount where the Master Chief had calculated that it was the fastest way onto a fringe Covenant ship  **[REDACTED MISSION REPORT]** \- and it was fascinating to hear.  These three Spartans were arguing about the impact of trajectory in space given the gravitational force of a Sun. My field of expertise is not physics, however, I was struck to hear that they were effectively making fun of the Master Chief because of his complete disregard of the fundamentals of ship-to-ship combat and physics itself. 

However, I was informed that yesterday, Master Chief was actually on S-Deck, and I did not know. I told Spartan Grant that it was impossible that I “missed him”, seeing as I was observing the IVs at the time. 

“He has a way of slipping ‘n out like that.” She explained, a little proudly as if she wanted a badge of honor for understanding a new species, “No one really knows what he looks like without the armor, so he just slips in and slips out.” 

Apparently, a group of IVs did not know that they were challenging him to a game of King of the Hill, and were very surprised once they were shut out that they played against the Chief. 

This is my first observation comparing the two classes of Spartans:  IVs announce their presence whereas the IIs move with purpose. In my observation of the three, I noticed that they barely moved a muscle. Every body movement was done on purpose or to illustrate a point-  there was nothing superfluous about it. 

“He treats us like Spartans,” Thorne told me, “We aren’t treated like we’re lesser because we’re newer. It…’s good.”

I look forward to spending more time seeing these two groups interact. 


End file.
